Code keeps you safe in pubs

Publi­cans in north Cork will be asked to roll out a safety cam­paign for cus­tomers.

Cus­tomers can use the code­words ‘Ask for An­gela’ to alert staff, and the cam­paign has been suc­cess­fully in­tro­duced into Cork city pubs and night­clubs.

It was orig­i­nally launched in the Lin­colnshire County Coun­cil area in Eng­land, in 2016, for peo­ple who feel un­safe, in­tim­i­dated, or threat­ened while out so­cial­is­ing.

The cam­paign is for men and women of all ages and sex­ual ori­en­ta­tion.

Us­ing the code word pro­vides peo­ple who feel at risk on a night out with a way to dis­creetly seek help or sup­port by ap­proach­ing bar or night­club staff and ask­ing for ‘An­gela’.

Staff are trained to re­spond ac­cord­ingly to en­sure the per­son who ap­proached them is sep­a­rated from the per­son who made them feel un­safe or un­com­fort­able.

They ac­com­pany the per­son to a safe lo­ca­tion, where they can dis­cuss con­cerns and re­quest more spe­cific as­sis­tance.

Cllr June Mur­phy told a meet­ing of the Fer­moy/Charl evil le mu­nic­i­pal dis­trict coun­cil that she had been con­tacted by the Cork Sex­ual Vi­o­lence Cen­tre and asked if the coun­cil could pro­mote the cam­paign in its area of in­flu­ence.

“It has been a great suc­cess in the city and we should write our publi­cans, ask­ing them to adopt it as well,” Cllr Mur­phy said.